Only a mere two weeks awaited me from the beginning of the what was to be my final year of high school. I was lying awake on my bed, attempting to gather some length of sleep before the next day began. The clock upon my nightstand read 11:43, the numbers were but a glint of light in the darkness-engulfed room. However, my eyes had long since adjusted to the near lightless conditions, and so that one infinitesimal light was now casting a shadow amongst everything in my sight. The once motionless darkness was now alive. As with each passing minute the room would be thrown back into the lightless abyss, only for new shadows to be given birth but an instance later. And here I lay in the midst of all of these ongoings, simply staring at the ceiling, attempting to count the multitude of shadows which lay amongst the ridges covering the textured ceiling. I could only get to forty-seven before the minute would end and the room would once again be swallowed in the blackness of the night. Then, but a moment later, the room would erupt from that one infinitesimal light. The motionless shadows would be born again and I would begin anew my counting. Unsure of how much time had lapsed I looked at the clock only to see it read 1:38. A mere two hours had passed in that span of time and I still lay awake without any hint of fatigue. The sandman must have gotten impatient, as but minutes later, during my counting, an enormous sense of fatigue consumed me and I slipped into unconsciousness.

Opening my eyes, the entire world had utterly transmuted in laying upon a soft layer of grass in the midst of what seemed to be a celebration. In my ears, I could hear the sound of laughter which was coupled with familiar voices. The sound of music permeated and flooded my ears as the melody of a time long passed rushed around me, twisting and whirling around me as if I were at the heart of a raging maelstrom. Though the music itself evoked within me a sense of longing and nostalgia, the very tone and intensity of it caused my body to shudder as a frigid chill creeped across my skin. Gathering myself and recovering from the overwhelming tones, I raised my head and stared in disbelief as my eyes gazed upon the scene transpiring before me. In front of me stood a massive bonfire whose towering inferno illuminated the moonless night. Around this colossal conflagration around this fire moved the figures of people with faces both old and new. There were relatives, friends, and even those with whom I had never once laid eyes upon. And they were all dancing. They were holding hands, spinning and twirling around the rising flames, filling the night with smiles and laughter.

The corners of my mouth started to rise as I stood in awe of this heartfelt scene. However, even though all of this seemed to be an incredibly joyous event and for a second I had the thought to join in on the dance and laughter, but I could not. Though I was already standing up and only a few feet away from the circle of my family and friends I remained still. For when I looked closely at the faces among those dancing my body instantly seized up and cold sweat began seep out of my skin. There were dead among them. My grandfather, my aunt, even my grandmother were with them. Even though they were supposed to be gone, buried in the ground, they were here, smiling and merrily dancing as if they were truly alive. Around and around they danced, faces both old and new, to the tempo of the music, holding hands as they circled the fire.

Only seconds later that I had thought this the scene then completely changed. The music immediately came to a premature and abrupt end. The circle of my family and friends, as if in sync with the music, suddenly ceased all movement and stood still. What followed after was a complete and utter silence, broken only by the faint crackling of the fire which appeared to be reverberating louder and louder with each passing second. This crackling was accompanied by a dull thumping which I had thought to be a beating drum. It was then I realized that the sound of coming from my chest. Silence continued for what seemed to be millennia. During this time not one of them made even the slightest of movements. This caused me to become even more fearful and my instincts instructed me to run, but my body would not do as I commanded it to. Realizing this my heart began to beat louder and faster, increasing with the intensity of the crackling fire which now sounded as if lighting was clashing with each whip of its fiery tails. The silence was finally broken. The once joyous and gleeful music that was playing long before was gone now and in its place resounded a much more dreadful and sinister tone. The song that ensued was as if evil itself had been transcribed into a tone audible by humans.

Immediately I threw myself at the ground, shut my eyes, and clamped my hands over my ears so as to prevent the sinister notes from entering my hearing. But it was not working, even though I had been clamping down on my ears so hard as to draw blood, the sound seemed only to resonate with my fear and continued to seep into my mind. Opening my eyes I saw that the once soft and lush, green grass was now dead and decaying. Towards the upper bounds of my vision I saw the shadows of my family cast by the ever growing light from the bonfire. They had now begun move and passed by hand in hand around of the light of the bonfire. These shadows continued to rush round and round with such rapidity that my body shuddered in trepidation.

However, something strange now appeared to be happening to the shadows streaking by as every now and then a sudden light would burst from one of the shadows causing the ones around it to immediately darken to black. After this the shadow from which the light had come from would have disappeared creating a gap in the continuous ring of shades. The shadows around it seemed to not take notice, and without even a stagger in step, the hole was filled. Noticing this strange phenomenon I cautiously raised my head and opened my eyes to view the scene. The first emotion that struck me was surprise, swiftly followed by dread and horror. What surprised me were the faces that each and every friend and relative of mine, as well as every stranger, held as they circled round and round the fire with fingers entwined. The faces of demons, of monsters and devils; with eyes of soot and skin of rot with which their bodies were composed of. The nightmarish creatures that I had expected my eyes to gaze upon in this dream turned horror, were not there.

Instead, they wore smiles, with the same glistening eyes and nimble bodies which they had had before. There faces were still full of glee and their movements remained swift as they twirled around the fire. But as I stared at the familiar face of one of my friends, a sudden flame immediately erupted from beneath them and engulfed their body. Not a moment had passed when the fire had flashed and they vanished. Gone. With not even a speck of ash to confirm their once subtle existence they had disappeared. As if the flame which had so spontaneously erupted had devoured all of their being.

In the place of the spinning circle that they were once a part of now appeared a hole which was swiftly filled by the person beside him. The friend whom I had once laughed with and shared part of my life with… was gone, and now ever so easily the hole where his body once danced, was filled and the circle grew ever so smaller. The only piece of him which still existed was the memory of his smiling face in my mind just before he had vanished. With the flash of that flame the bonfire seemed to shine ever so much more dimly. It was not long after my friend’s life had been extinguished did the same fate meet another. This time it was someone who had appeared to a complete stranger, one whose fate had not yet run in course with mine, and yet the feeling of loss was the same, if not greater, for this stranger whose laughter continued to ring in my ears after they had ceased to exist. Once again their gap was filled and the circle became tighter. This continued on for several minutes as each life was extinguished by a sudden blaze which instantaneously engulfed and erased them. The ungodly music from before had long since ceased.

With each and every life that the flames snuffed, the circle shrank smaller and smaller and the fire grew dimmer and dimmer until all that was left was a lone child, dancing around a pile of ashes and smolder. The child that remained was a small girl whose identity was a complete mystery to me. She was wearing a pink-frilled dress with her light brown hair let down beneath her shoulders. This girl continued to smile and giggle as she hopped round and round the glowing cinders. Her arms were outstretched as if they were still holding to the hands of those who had existed, but moments before. Though I had never once seen her face before in my memory my heart ached and a dull pain arose in my chest when I gazed upon her. It was as if her existence was itself a hallowed gem in my eyes. Something so meaningful and beautiful, and yet so awfully sad as she remained ignorant of the fate which awaited her as she continued to twirl about the dying embers.

Feeling this incredible sadness, I did not want her to experience the same fate as those before her. Attempting to speak in a soft voice in order to gain her attention and not frighten her, yet not a single word could be heard from my lips. Again, now in a louder voice, but once more nothing could be hea. As I looked upon the remaining embers whose light grew dimmer and dimmer I knew that I had not much time left. Seeing as how I could not speak I had thought to run up to her in order to avert her fate. However, no matter how hard I tried, as before, my legs would not respond to my commands. And so I stand here in the sheer silence, forced to simply watch as this small child twirled around smiling and laughing, unaware of the fate which awaited her.

An eternity seemed to pass before the last of the embers began to die. In a vain attempt but to grasp her, I slowly lifted my arm up and reached out with fingers outstretched and as I did so, the child stopped with her back to me. She then twirled around and glanced behind with her mouth open in surprise. Her eyes met with mine, and as if in acknowledgment of my existence she then began to smile. Before I could utter any words of warning, the fate that had awaited her finally was met and her tiny body was consumed by the ravenous flame. A flash of light and she was gone, her life and existence. Both were extinguished just as with the rest of those who once circled the around the fire along with her, hands enclosed. All that was left was nothingness. The final embers of the once grand bonfire were now dissipating, allowing the darkness of the moonless night to consume and envelop everything with a cimmerian veil. Gradually, the gloom reached my body and my body lay frozen in the frigid emptiness, slowly swallowed by the reaching desolation. Only now I am truly by myself. And so all alone, I cry out into the endless and suffocating darkness.